Before I started my position at SEDA-COG, the organization launched the SEDA-COG MPO Bicycle & Pedestrian Counts Program in 2022. The goal of the program was to allow local planners to measure existing levels of bicycling and walking, monitor travel trends, plan for new or improved facilities, and measure outcomes of bicycle and pedestrian projects relative to transportation, economic impacts, and return on investment. In the Fall 2022, with the help of Bucknell University, SEDA-COG purchased TRAFx trail counters and placed them on regional trail networks to start calculating local trail demand.

I took over this project soon after I started the position and learned the ropes of the TRAFx counters. After the counters were in the field for a year, I collected them, analyzed the data, and created an ArcGIS StoryMap to communicate our findings. Maps were created in ArcGIS Online and graphs were created in free, online design tool Flourish.

After the first round of data collection was completed in Fall 2023, the trail counters were placed in new trails to continue the program. This cycle was completed in the Fall 2024. The counters were moved again to new trail networks with newly purchased Eco-Counter units afterwards.

In July 2024, Bucknell University presented our preliminary findings at the Institute of Transportation Engineers 2024 Annual Meeting & Exhibition. Additionally, an edited version of the 2023 StoryMap is to be published in Research Pays Off, a series of transportation-related case studies published in the Transportation Research Board's bimonthly national magazine, TR News.